


hands getting cold (losing feeling's getting old)

by rhythmicroman



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Brotherly Love, Dubious Morality, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Protective Sans (Undertale), Skeleton Chara, Skeleton Frisk (Undertale), Songfic, Undertale Genocide Route, Undertale Saves and Resets, Verbal Frisk (Undertale), Young Papyrus (Undertale), Young Sans (Undertale), he's a tad morally ambiguous, its very lightly implied dw, not the one you're thinking of though lol, sans isn't the best person but he isn't the worst person either, sans needs all the tags huh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 06:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16510685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhythmicroman/pseuds/rhythmicroman
Summary: "They know," he wheezed, unusually quiet. "Sans, they know, you said they wouldn't-""No," Sans' cold blue eyes stared him down, "I said they wouldn't know what WE did. I never reset, Paps, that was on you."





	1. don't be that way

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is the result of me digging up an old AU I made ~2 years ago? basically, it's Another Roleswap AU, because I thought it'd be interesting.  
> the swaps that you need to worry about are:  
> \- chara & sans (sans is the first fallen child, chara is the older skelesib)  
> \- frisk & papyrus (papyrus is the 8th fallen child/monster ambassador/protag, frisk is the younger skelesib)  
> sans and papyrus are still biologically related, frisk and chara are also biologically related
> 
> song title is from the song "idontwannabeyouanymore" by billie eilish
> 
> this probably lowkey sucks but it's just a ramble at this point so rip

Papyrus knew Chara was there.

Of course he did. He'd seen this through a few times before, though he'd never been as calm as he was now - well, maybe calm was a strange way to put it. He didn't feel much at all, really. It was hard to emote, with Sans clasping so tightly around his soul, bleeding into everything he did.

It was obvious, really, that Sans was there - his brave orange soul teemed with blue veins, dark and polluted. Though honestly, this far into it all, it was as much Sans' soul as it was his.

"Human," Chara's voice rasped behind him, faint and menacing, "don't you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around, and shake my hand."

So he turned.

Chara was somehow more menacing face-on than they were in the darkness; the faint red lights in their eyesockets flickered, and their pale green jumper hung too loosely off their skeletal frame, making them look smaller yet sharper. Their eyesockets were ringed with tired darkness, their smiling face pulled tight and painfully thin, as if they weren't even really smiling at all.

They acted like usual, at first, until their humour got no rise from the usually-joyous human; even moreso when he had stared at Frisk deadly, barely moving an inch, not even _trying_ to hide.

"Hey, kid," they rasped again, as he made to walk away; and he stopped, though Sans still tugged at his soul relentlessly, "Frisk hasn't seen a human before - well, not this time, anyways - so I'd really appreciate it," their eyes darkened, "if you kept pretending to be him."

With nothing more, Chara disappeared, barely even pretending to walk away; and Papyrus wheezed, hands trembling around his knife, reaching up to pull his scarf up and cover his face. "They know," he wheezed, unusually quiet. "Sans, they know, you said they wouldn't-"

"No," Sans' cold blue eyes stared him down, "I said they wouldn't know what _we_ did. I never reset, Paps, that was on you."

Papyrus wheezed again, fumbling with his scarf - a nervous habit, Sans figured. The ghost rocked on his feet, smiling like usual, hands stuffed in his pockets. "C'mon, Paps, bro," he reasoned, leaning closer to the younger boy, "'s not like it matters, right? We can just reset it again, once we're done, like we did last time."

Another wheeze. "Last time didn't involve _murder,_ Sans - I think I'm going to hyperventilate," he ran his fingers shakily through his hair, "this is too much, Sans, really."

Sans' smile fell a little. "You said you trusted me, Papyrus. I'm your _brother."_

"I do trust you, Sans, I always did, you _know_ that, even before you di-"

"Then stop worrying about it," Sans' voice softened, and he tugged a little stronger at Papyrus' soul, "and just do it, yeah? You said you were curious. I promise they won't remember, next time. All Chara'll know is the reset."

The conversation paused, Papyrus scanning the trees hurriedly for Chara's trademark green, still fumbling with his scarf and his hair - and then he was nodding, straightening his jumper. "Okay."

Sans raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"

"Okay. I'll stop worrying. It's just one time."

Sans' smile widened again, relief rushing over his face. "Just one time."

Taking his big brother's hand, Papyrus began trudging through the snow.


	2. show, never tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus still remembers when Sans had fallen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, a little bit of a drabble rather than a full chapter, but at this point i'm kind of just putting my thoughts regarding this AU onto paper lmao  
> skele(human?)bros exposition, some frisk descriptions, all that good kush

_Papyrus still remembers when Sans had fallen._

_Well, not really; he was far too young to really understand, but he vaguely recalls his brother taking him by the hands, running his thumbs over the younger boy's knuckles, promising he'd be back - "I just really gotta go, Paps, but I love you, yeah? I'll come back for you, I promise."_

_Sans had kissed him on the forehead and slung his near-empty bag over his shoulder, tugging his hood over his head. The door's lock jostled as he moved it, but put up no resistance, rusted and barely-used. He scanned Papyrus carefully with cautious blue eyes, fixed his hood to cover every last strand of his dark hair, and stepped out into the cold of winter, closing the door quietly behind him._

_Papyrus, young and naive as he was, had waited for him, knees pulled up to his chest; he'd waited through their father's low growls, the slow melting of the snow, what felt like thousands of days and nights..._

_...But nobody came._

_Nobody ever came, and Papyrus was left waiting for years to come, until he finally got the guts to follow his brother up the mountain._

 

* * *

Even when Sans had been alive, he and Papyrus had never looked much like siblings.

Papyrus was tall and lanky, with burnt orange hair that hung in his dark, warm eyes, and golden skin coated in freckles. His knees were always scraped and his cheeks were always flushed a little red from the cold, never having grown entirely out of his childish playfulness, even as he began towering over his older brother.

Admittedly, that wasn't hard; Sans had died younger than Papyrus was now, so whilst he'd very nearly be an adult if he still grew, he looked quite small and young beside his brother. His hair was dark and curly, his eyes an unusually icy blue, and he lacked any of the charming marks on his skin that Papyrus had, save a few old scars. His face was always smiling, even when he was scared - though it never really changed or strained anymore, as if it had become part of him - and his eyes were always blown wide. It'd be a little scary if it weren't so familiar.

Sans had told him, once, in an especially quiet night, that they maybe weren't technically brothers - Papyrus was the only one of them who really looked anything like their parents - but that they were still brothers, anyway. Sans may more closely resemble their uncles or aunts than their parents, but he was still the only one who cared for the younger boy, the only brother he'd ever consider having; and it wasn't as if they wanted him, anyway.

Sometimes, when Papyrus felt especially bad about the dust on his hands, he'd think back to when Sans was nice.

 

* * *

Frisk was unusual, as far as skeletons went. They were shorter than Papyrus by a small amount, with angular eyesockets and a straight row of teeth where their mouth should be. They spoke loudly when they talked to him, mimicking his overdramatic tone - or at least, they had, back before Papyrus felt too guilty to be dramatic - but their not-talking-to-Papyrus voice was quiet and reserved, with an accent neither of the human boys recognised. They sounded quite a bit like Chara, really, though their voice was less raspy and more smooth, youthful where Chara's had sounded mature.

They made puzzles, which excited him quite a bit - he'd always loved puzzles. He wasn't the smartest when it came to numbers, or programming, or science, but he solved puzzles unfairly quickly, with all the flair of a performer and all the speed of a professional. Frisk admired that about him, he figured; their eyesockets would always (metaphorically) light up when he'd cracked an absurdly hard one, and they'd congratulate him in their talking-to-Papyrus voice, hand pressed proudly to their chest, falling into character - The Fantastic Frisk.


End file.
